There is More Than Meets the Eye With This Restomod 1962 Ferrari GTE and Custom Superhauler

This is a match made in heaven as they say. It’s a 1962 Ferrari GTE and 1971 American LeFrance fire truck combo that has been given the full restomod treatment and now sits as an Italian muscle car and car carrier combination that’ll make your knees buckle. Especially after learning what went into making them what they are today.

The owner stumbled into a classified ad for the Ferrari and his first thought was it must be a kit car. But after doing a bit more research and his wife pushing him to go to see the car, he recognized it as an actual 1962 Ferrari, and he bought it on the spot. At the time it was already slightly resto-modded with a V8 under the hood, but it definitely needed a lot of work. He said if the opportunity presented itself where he could find a numbers matching drivetrain he was willing to restore it back to original.

It’s definitely considered a cardinal sin for a car with the heritage of an early 60’s Ferrari to be desecrated with anything other than an Italian V12 under the hood. But once you learn that this car was built with the passion for everything we as moto enthusiasts live for, it’ll probably get a pass. Once the owner got the car home his 80-year-old father took a liking to it and asked if he could get involved. So it then became a father and son project, which is cool because they plan on keeping the car in the family and on the road forever.

With that being said, they built the car to be driven and driven a lot. It needed to be both street and highway friendly so most of the main modifications are geared towards that. When the 1962 GTE left the factory floor it had the Columbo V12 under the hood that was good for about 240hp. After to some careful consideration, and I’m sure a significant amount of fabrication, they decided to put a Chevy 383 cubic inch V8 in it. The car hasn’t been on the dyno so the horsepower rating would be pure speculation, but it’s safe to say it’ll be more than the stock power plant. To handle the additional power they also decided to upgrade the rear end from a 1983 Chrysler. Ferrari purists will be happy (if that’s remotely possible at this point) to know that they had it modified to alter the bolt pattern so the stock wire rims would fit on it. They also figured it was best they upgrade the transmission since everything else in the drivetrain had been and the best option ended up being a Tremec 5-Speed.

Then they decided they needed something to haul it with it. Which In most cases I would think is sort of pointless because why haul it when you can drive it, but then you see the hauler they built and it totally makes sense. The hauler is almost as cool as the car. Almost! It started life as an old 1971 American LeFrance Fire Truck. The chassis and overall setup was perfectly designed to handle the weight of being a car carrier. With this being a significantly bigger job with master level fabrication required, they took it to Jack Dick Customs based out of California. Apparently, it started with a sketch on a piece of paper and that was the whole design plan. And the Jack Dick crew just built it and there was only one spot on the entire truck that caused them some issues and that’s the slope of the rear end. That needed to be done and redone a few times but as you can see the end result is spectacular.

Like the car, they wanted the “Superhauler,” as they call it, to be extremely highway friendly. That way if the desire to pick up and take off on a car show tour across the country, this rig would pull it off no problem. They figured it was probably smart to upgrade the motor on the old fire engine because it had surely been put through the ringer in its day. And they didn’t play around when picking a new motor either; they opted for a 9.3L 8V-71T Detroit Diesel that’s been slightly modified to produce 385hp, but more importantly over 1,100lb-ft of torque. That’s the same motor that’s used in those massive coach buses that are used by celebrities for their tours, only it’s been tuned up a little bit. Needless to say, there is more than enough to keep you cruising comfortably at 70mph+ on the highways.

It needed to be comfortable for when they were going to be in it for long periods of time, and really why wouldn’t you if you were building everything else. So in addition to creature comforts like air conditioning and a high-grade stereo system, they upgraded the seats too. And not just any seats, they happen to be seats from a 1973 BMW 3.0 CS, which I’ll be honest I didn’t realize those seats were particularly comfortable, but hey it’s still a cool thing you get to tell people about. Plus it’s one more thing that makes it unique.

I think this muscle car Ferrari and fire truck turned superhauler is cool enough that both diehard Ferrari and fire truck historians would be willing to overlook the fact that they have been altered from their original state. But if not, they will just have to look the other way as the owner and his family continue to drive them both for the foreseeable future with big old smiles on their faces.

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